After a good night's sleep in the dorm at the Univ of Alaska we got up the next morning to a constant cold rain. We sat around and talked, did laundry, ate breakfast, made a few phone calls. It let up around noon. My plan was to head over to Adventure Cycleworks, a small startup business just northeast of Fairbanks, to change my oil.
When I got there it was a guy working out of his garage. He had 2 bikes in the garage and 3 or 4 guys waiting out in the driveway. Really busy. Well, I thought, I will just change my oil myself here in his muddy dirt driveway.
Now I have to do a quick flashback. Waaaay back when I stayed in Dawson Creek, the start of the Alaska Highway, I met Sandy again at the campground there (I think that is when we started riding together). I also met Jim and his brother, Steve, and his son, Blake, riding a Honda ST-1300, a 2004 BMW K1200GT (just like mine!), and a Vstrom 1000, respectively. They were headed up to Prudhoe Bay too. Jim mentioned in the conversation that they were staying with a friend up in Fairbanks that they met last year. We had a good conversation and we actually saw them a few more times over the next several days as Sandy and I made our way up.
Back to changing my oil in the driveway. As I was standing there a familiar face came walking up the driveway. It was Jim!!! He said he saw us drive in and came over to say hi. The friend's place they were staying at in Fairbanks WAS RIGHT NEXT DOOR!!!! How is that for a coincidence!
We talked about the situation there and Jim suggested that I just run about 3 miles to Walmart and buy some oil and bring it back to his friend's place next door (who had a paved driveway!) So that's what I did, left Adventure Cycleworks, got some oil, and changed it in a light drizzle in the driveway talking with those guys.
After that I ran a few errands around Fairbanks looking for a few things and got back to the dorms late. Sandy was waiting for me so then we rode over to Brewsters and had dinner. We both got their "Apple Pecan Chicken Salad."
During the course of the day we talked with several different riders who had just come back from their ride up to the Arctic Circle and Prudhoe Bay. We got quite a mix of stories about how bad it was in the rain and others said it wasn't so bad. We met a few riders who had gone down and some got hurt (one totaled his Harley Ultra Glide with 68,000 miles on it). Also heard about the former governor of Alabama (Riley?) who rode up to PB and crashed on his way back and was in the hospital with several broken ribs and a punctured lung. Another guy went down on his BMW RT and broke some things on it and had it at the dealer getting it fixed (he was ok).
So after hearing about all these incidents and seeing rain in the forecast for the next 4 days I decided the conditions were not right to attempt it. It might have been ok but I really wanted to ride back home - not fly. Very bad vibes...
So the plan was to depart the next morning with the next stage of our adventure - Anchorage, about 350 miles or so to the south.
[Post note - Someone asked me later on the trip if I regretted not going up to Prudhoe Bay. On the one hand I wish I could have gone, I will always wonder what it would have been like, and it would be nice to have those pics and say I did it. On the other hand, I never regret a decision I make, because I make the best decision I can with the facts I have on hand, and if those facts change later that doesn't affect the decision I had to make AT THAT TIME. So, no, I don't regret my decision at all. ]
